Character Creation Part Three: Traits
Traits are the details that can make your character really unique. They can add more colors to the character. Traits can make the difference between an average human with all Primary Statistics at 5 and an average human with all Primary Statistics at 5 who is chem resistant. There are lots of combinations and each trait can give you lots of fun..or pain. Well, it happens. Traits are an optional part of the character creation process. They simply describe an aspect of the character's personality or physical description, and permanently affect things like Skills, Primary Statistics, and Secondary Statistics. Some traits are not available to every race, and some traits are only available to robots or animal races. A character can pick two traits, one trait, or no traits at all. A character can never have more than two traits. Bloody Mess By some strange twist of fate, people around you die violently. You always see the worst way a person can die. This does not mean you kill them any faster or slower, but when they do die, it will be dramatic. Just how dramatic is up to the Gamemaster. Bruiser A little slower, but a little bigger. You may not hit as often, but they will feel it when you do! Your total action points are lowered, but your Strength is increased. You get a 2-point bonus to Strength, but lose 2 Action Points. Ghouls cannot choose this trait. Chem Reliant You are more easily addicted to chems. Your chance to be addicted is twice normal, but you recover in half the time from their ill effects. Chem Resistant Chems only affect you half as long as normal, but your chance to be addicted is only 50% the normal amount. Fast Metabolism Your metabolic rate is twice the normal rate. This means that you are much less resistant to radiation and poison, but your body heals faster. You get a 2-point bonus to Healing Rate, but your Radiation and Poison Resistance start at 0% (racial modifiers are added later). Ghouls cannot choose this trait. Fast Shot Why take time to aim when you can spray your enemies with a rain of bullets? That’s your motto! You cannot perform targeted shots, but all weapons take one less action point to use. Note that the Fast Shot trait has no effect on HtH or Melee attacks. Fear the Reaper You have cheated death! You gain perks as if you were a human, but you are now on death’s short list. This means that once a month, you must roll against Luck or else drop dead. Only Ghouls can choose this trait. Finesse Your attacks show a lot of finesse. You don't do as much damage, but you cause more critical hits. All of your attacks lose 25% of their damage (after Damage Threshold, and round up) but you gain a 10% bonus to Critical Chance. Super Mutants cannot choose this trait. Gifted You have more innate abilities than most, so you have not spent as much time honing your skills. Your statistics are better than the average person, but your skills are lacking. You get 5 more Character Points to distribute among your Primary Statistics, but all skills get a 10% penalty and you receive 5 less Skill Points per level. Glowing One Extreme radiation exposure has left you glowing in the dark. Your glow eliminates modifiers from light in combat for both you and your enemies. In addition, you gain a +50% bonus to Radiation Resistance, but everyone around you takes 10 rads per hour (see Radiation under Damage and Death, below). Only Ghouls can choose this trait. Good Natured You studied less-combative skills as you were growing up. Your combat skills start at a lower level, but First Aid, Doctor, Speech, and Barter are substantially improved. Those skills get a 20% bonus. You get a 10% penalty to starting combat skills (Simple Weapons skills and Ranged Weapons skills). Ham Fisted Genetic engineering – or dumb luck – has endowed you with huge hands. You get a “free” tag skill in Unarmed, but you suffer a -20% penalty to Ranged Weapons skills, First Aid, Doctor, Repair, Science, and Lockpick Skills (these numbers cannot go below 0). Only Super Mutants can choose this trait. Heavy Handed You swing harder, not better. Your attacks are very brutal, but lack finesse. You rarely cause a good critical hit, but you always do more melee damage. You get a 4-point bonus to Melee Damage, but your critical hits do half of their normal damage (50%) and targets get a 50% chance to avoid a critical hit that would cripple a limb or cause blindness. Jinxed The good thing is that everyone around you has more critical failures in combat. The bad thing is: so do you! If you, a member of your party, or a non-player character have a failure in combat, there is a greater likelihood the failure will be upgraded (downgraded?) to a critical failure. Critical failures are bad: weapons explode, you may hit the wrong target, you could lose part of your turn, or any number of bad things. Failures are 50% more likely to become critical failures around the character or anyone else in combat. Kamikaze By not paying attention to any threats, you can act a lot faster in a turn. This lowers your Armor Class to just what you are wearing, but you sequence much faster in a combat turn. You have no natural Armor Class (Armor Class is therefore 0 regardless of Agility). You must wear armor to get an Armor Class. Your sequence gets a 5 point bonus. Night Person As a night-time person, you are more awake when the sun goes down. Your Intelligence and Perception are improved at night but are dulled during the day. You get a 1-point penalty to these Statistics from 0601 to 1800, and a 1-point bonus to these Stats from 1801 to 0600. Note that the bonus cannot take IN and PE above the character’s racial maximum or below the character’s racial minimum. One Hander One of your hands is very dominant. You excel with single-handed weapons, but two-handed weapons cause a problem. You have a 40% penalty to hit with two-handed weapons, but get a 20% bonus to hit with weapons that only require one hand. Sex Appeal This trait increases your chances of having a good reaction from people who find people of your sex attractive. Unfortunately, this trait tends to annoy those who find people of your sex unattractive. When interacting with people attracted to your sex, you gain a 1-point bonus to Charisma for reactions only. When making Speech and Barter rolls, you gain a 40% bonus for each. When interacting with people who are not attracted to your sex, you have a 1-point penalty to Charisma for reactions only and have a 40% penalty to both Speech and Barter rolls. Only humans can choose this trait. Skilled Since you spend more time improving your skills than a normal person, you gain more skill points. The tradeoff is that you do not gain as many extra abilities. You will gain a perk at one level higher than normal. For example, if you normally gained a perk every 4 levels, you would now gain a perk every 5 levels. You will get an additional 5 skill points per new experience level. Small Frame You are not quite as big as everyone else, but that never slowed you down. You can't carry as much, but you are more agile. You get a +1 point bonus to Agility, but your Carry Weight is only 15 lbs X Strength. Super Mutants cannot choose this trait. Tech Wizard You spent your formative years hunched over a bench learning all about the way things work. The trouble is that you’ve ruined your eyes! You get a +15% bonus to Science, Repair, and Lockpick skills, but you lose 1 Perception. Beta mutants cannot choose this trait. Vat Skin Other people find you hideous to behold and disgusting to smell after your “dip” in the FEV vats. The good news is that you gain a +10 bonus to your Armor Class thanks to your extra-tough skin. The bad news is that everyone within ten hexes of your location, friend and foe, suffers a 1-point penalty to Perception (you are unaffected) because of your awful stench. Only Super Mutants can choose this trait. Category:Chapter II: Character Creation